MEDIA STATEMENTS: South Africa hosts Open Government Partnership Steering Committee

Date: 22 Jul 2015

Centurion, Pretoria

Wednesday, 22 July 2015

Deputy Minister for Public Service and Administration, Ms Ayanda Dlodlo as South Africa's Special Envoy to the Open Government Partnership (OGP) will on 22 and 23 July 2015 host an OGP Steering Committee in line with the processes of the Partnership at the Irene African Country Lodge in Centurion.

Governments to be represented at the OGP Steering Committee include Brazil, Croatia, France, Indonesia, Mexico, Philippines, Tanzania, United Kingdom and the United States, as well as participation by members of several civil society formations from across the globe.

In just four years since its launch, the membership has grown to 65 countries, with hundreds of civil society organisations participating in the process at country-level. To date, Open Government Partnership countries represent one third of the world's population and have made more than 1,000 open government reform commitments.

Launched in September 2011, the OGP is a mechanism to promote increased accountability, transparency, citizen participation and the fight against corruption in the respective countries and across the world. South Africa joined seven other countries which are Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, Norway, the Philippines, the United Kingdom and the United States of America at the formation of this initiative.

Since the launch of the OGP, the government of South Africa, has been an active member of the OGP Steering Committee and has played a key role in convening OGP-Africa regional events and discussion forums aimed at deepening good governance practices on the African continent.

In the implementation of the Partnership, the South African government continues to work in close partnership with civil society formations which include the Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa (CONTRALESA), South African National Civic Organisation (SANCO), African Peer Review Mechanism National Governing Council (APRM NGC), the South African National NGO Coalition (SANGOCO), the Open Democracy Advice Centre (ODEC), and the Nelson Mandela Foundation amongst others.

Numerous consultative processes have been undertaken to engage and interact with civil society formations and the public and these include programmes on community radio, commercial radio, television broadcasts, print and digital media, house-to-house campaign led by CDWs, OGP round tables, and the Presidential Coordinating Council as some of the platforms.

The session this week will afford members of the OGP Steering Committee opportunity to engage on processes thus far ahead of South Africa assuming the position of Lead Chair of the OGP Steering Committee in October 2015.